Alabama-Texas A&M: The Only Story That Matters

The college-football season arrived with a thunderclap this weekend, quenching a parched public.

ENLARGE

Can the nation's most talented and confounding player, Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, keep his wits about him long enough to beat the Crimson Tide again?
Associated Press

Spectacular quarterback Tajh Boyd threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more Saturday night to lead eighth-ranked Clemson past No. 5 Georgia, 38-35, putting the Tigers in the hunt for their first national title since 1981. Washington's 38-6 rout of 19th-ranked Boise State marked the official end of Boise's decadelong underdog uprising. No. 25 Oregon State lost to lower-division Eastern Washington, making one wonder: How much longer can the Beavers stay competitive, in the shadow of the Oregon Ducks' emerald city?

The weekend's most electric tension, though, emanated from two programs that don't meet for nearly two weeks, on Sept. 14 in College Station, Texas: top-ranked Alabama and No. 7 Texas A&M.

These teams carry two irresistible questions that Saturday's games only underscored: Can Alabama win a third consecutive national title? And, can the nation's most talented and confounding player, Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, keep his wits about him long enough to beat the Crimson Tide again?

Alabama has a near-perfect third-year starting quarterback in A.J. McCarron and waves of defenders that arrive like new rows of shark teeth. Virginia Tech seemed a cooperative enough foe for the Tide's season opener on Saturday night. The Hokies were unranked, a 21-point underdog, and playing in Atlanta's Georgia Dome, where Alabama is accustomed to playing for the Southeastern Conference title.

But the Tide sputtered. Alabama had a measly 96 yards rushing, in part because McCarron got sacked four times. The defense yielded 153 yards rushing, including an up-the-middle, 77-yard touchdown run by Trey Edmunds, a redshirt freshman playing in his first college game. Alabama receiver Amari Cooper, so precise in his debut season of 2012, dropped a few passes that hit his belly.

The Tide won easily, 35-10—this is still Alabama—but three of their five scores came by alternate means: a punt return and a kick return by wide receiver Christion Jones, plus a 38-yard interception return for a touchdown from Vinnie Sunseri. This is how empires erode.

Hours earlier in College Station, Manziel paced the sideline of Kyle Field in a white visor and a towel strung around his neck like an impatient tennis-club pro. He was serving a half-game NCAA suspension in the wake of reports that he signed autographs for money, a charge he never publicly denied. The Aggies led Rice at halftime behind the play of backup quarterback Matt Joeckel, but not by much: 28-21. When Rice quarterback Taylor McHargue threw a second-half interception, Manziel tugged his helmet on and bounded onto the field to the crowd's roar.

On his first play, Manziel lined up in the shotgun and pivoted to pass before scrambling 12 yards for the first down, the brilliant slipperiness intact from his Heisman Trophy season last year.

During A&M's next drive, after running for a first down, Manziel appeared to pantomime to Rice defenders that, no, he would not give them an autograph. The next play, Manziel fired a touchdown pass, then rubbed his fingers to the sky as though flaunting cash.

The sass so apparent in his off-season Twitter barbs was back, but so was the mastery. Manziel threw for two more scores in the half, finishing with three touchdowns—half of his six completions.

Then something got to Manziel. It was well into the fourth quarter and the Aggies were floating to a 52-31 victory. Manziel threw his final touchdown, then traded words with Rice players. An official caught the exchange and flagged Manziel for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. He strode past irked A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin, who in a later news conference called the penalty "foolish" and said that he benched Manziel for the game's final minutes. (Manziel wasn't made available for interviews after the game.)

So now we wait for Sept. 14. Alabama has a week off to get ready, which may not be as helpful as people think it is. Research has shown that bye weeks don't make a big difference, although they could in tossup matchups. Then again, the last time the Tide had a week off before a titanic regular-season game—ahead of the 2011 showdown against LSU—Alabama lost. (LSU also had an open date the week before.) Last year, LSU had a week off before playing Alabama (Alabama didn't), and the Tigers lost.

But the Tide also have a relatively easy schedule, missing SEC East Division powers Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Texas A&M is the only team that beat Alabama last season, and the upcoming game is its season in a nutshell.

The Aggies are in a precarious spot. Their success depends on controlling a player who thrives on mayhem. Manziel's bookends Saturday were inauspicious—a suspension and a benching—but the play in the middle was tantalizing.

A&M has one more tuneup, against lower-division Sam Houston State, then hosts the game of the year. The tension builds.

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